By James Blackman

Semtech Corporation has teamed with Singapore-based IoT metering company Sindcon to deploy around 1,000 (“plus”) LoRaWAN energy and water metering devices at the Singapore Zoo. Sindcon worked with local utility Electrique Energie & Metering on the project, also. The target is to save 10 per cent on total energy consumption at the zoo.

The new LoRaWAN-based meters have been deployed in varied and forested terrain across three parks inside the Singapore Zoo. Sindcon integrated LoRa sensors in its existing metering solutions, to transmit metering data over LoRaWAN every 15 minutes; the meters have a projected battery life of three years. There was no word in a press statement on whether a LoRaWAN network was built to support the sensors, or whether they use an existing network deployment.

The smart meters, connecting to a low-power wide-area (LPWA) LoRaWAN network, are located inside the switch rooms, housed within electrical panels across the three parks in the Singapore Zoo.  Each device monitors key energy consumption metrics, including cubic meter (m3) throughput for water meters; kilowatt-hour (kWh), voltage, current and power consumption for electricity meters.

Sindcon said power efficiency gains in the LoRa-based solution enabled it to reduce the cost of power cabling, to further reduce the cost and complexity of the deployment. The project has taken three years; results have seen a “data success rate” of 97 per cent, according to Sindcon.

Chief executive and founder of Sindcon, Deyu Chen said: “The immense scale of this project was a challenge for radio signal transmission due to the Singapore Zoo’s expansive area and heavily forested terrain. LoRaWAN and Semtech’s LoRa devices were the ideal solution, supporting the need of the project for low power data communication. Sindcon and Semtech’s collaboration highlights how LPWAN technologies are moving toward the future of a more energy-efficient and smarter world.”

Vice president of IoT product marketing and strategy for Semtech’s wireless and sensing products group, Marc Pégulu said: “LoRa devices and the LoRaWAN standard deliver a cost effective and flexible networking solution for Sindcon, driving bottom line business benefits. Enhancing the Singapore Zoo with Sindcon through the deployment of smart water and energy meters with LoRaWAN showcases how the Internet of Things is shaping the future of smart utilities.”